Ex-Marine, Assembly Candidate Faces ‘Long Road’ After Stabbing

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LA QUINTA (CBS) — A former Assembly candidate stabbed in the diaphragm and heart while trying to intervene in a disturbance at a birthday party is in “great pain” in a Los Angeles hospital, but the La Quinta resident has been moved out of the intensive care unit.

Steve Sanchez, a former Marine, was attacked early Sunday at the Whittier home of Gabriel Davalos, who also was stabbed and hospitalized with his friend at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, under assumed names.

The dust-up apparently occurred when some intoxicated, uninvited guests were asked to leave the premises. Whittier police are still looking for the suspects.

“Steve is still in great pain,” his sister Priscilla wrote on his Facebook page. “He has a long road to recovery.”

Bob Richmond, former Riverside County Republican Party chairman who helped Sanchez during his losing campaign against 80th District Assemblyman Manuel Perez, believes the 34-year-old Iraq veteran is a hero.

“I think what’s going to be seen is that Steve’s friend (Davalos) is alive today because he stepped in,” Richmond told The Desert Sun.

Sanchez has undergone two surgeries since the stabbing and was in a medically induced coma for a time, according to the newspaper.